A made-in-Surrey silver pendant has been crafted as a thank-you to first responders, with proceeds to charity.

Jeweler Guaica Rodriguez and his team at two Jewellery Clinic shops in Surrey designed the unisex medal with space for a name of the customer’s choice on the back side.

Originally from Venezuela, Rodriguez said he grew up in a family of first-responders.

“My mother was a nurse and my father was a police officer, and many of our family members are nurses and police officers too,” he said.

“My mother, she passed away and I never had a chance to do something like this for her,” he added. “There are a lot of people who want to say thank-you to a first responder, and this is one way, we came to this idea.”

The “Honor a Hero” medal, the size of a nickel, sells for $129, plus taxes, on the shop’s website (jewelleryclinic.com), and Rodriguez says all profits will be donated to Surrey Food Bank. Free shipping is offered to locations in Canada and the U.S., with delivery in three to five weeks.

A video showing the pendant is posted to the company website and also Youtube.

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“It’s a win-win, to do something for your hero and also the food bank,” Rodriguez said. “We don’t know how much of a hit this will be, but we hope to help with this.

“We have some orders already, but we just started,” he added. “We are making a mass-production mould right now, and by early next week we will have the first batch. We tell people and everybody loves the idea.”

The Jewellery Clinic, in business since 2001, has locations in Guildford and South Surrey.

“We closed for about six weeks (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) but we are open again, with plexiglas and two-person rule, all that,” Rodriguez noted.